Method in the Madness

                As one of my past blog posts would attest to, I am not afraid to be unconventional, so long as I don’t think it’ll be a hindrance. Today, I will explain a few of the things I do on a regular basis that often draw comments from others for being “weird.” I put that in quotes because, while they are unconventional, they are actually conscious decisions that I feel are well founded. I will explain these below, in increasing unusualness.

                The first habit I do see others practice, but those cases are still a strong minority. Whenever I park in a parking lot, I always back into the spot (unless there’s a pull through spot, or the spots are arranged in a way that doesn’t allow backing in). This does take a few seconds more than going head in, but that time is definitely made up for when you leave. That time difference is pretty insignificant either way, though. The main advantage of backing into the spot is safety. When backing out of the spot with cars close on either side, it’s essentially a blind exit initially. When you back in, you then exit forward, which has two advantages for visibility: first, you’re looking forward, which is easier than turning around or using mirrors, and second, you can lean forward to get a wider range of sight. You might be thinking that this is all well and good, but the entrance is more dangerous when backing in, so it would cancel out. I agree that backing into a spot is probably a bit more dangerous than entering forward, but when you back in, you’re at least operating from the lane, so you are able to see where the cars and pedestrians are before and while you back in. In addition, you’re more visible to others as well, so all around this is a safer situation than backing out, so by backing in, you eliminate the most dangerous part of the parking process

                The next habit is health related: I almost never put dressing on my salads, and will specifically ask for no dressing on one that would by default have dressing. The reason I do this is because the reason I eat salads is because they are a healthy, low calorie food, not because they taste good. When people comment on the lack of dressing on a salad it inevitably includes something about how bad/boring a plain salad tastes. Dressings tend to contain a lot of fat, so by adding them, you make the salad less healthy and more calorie dense. Sure, they may taste better, but if you’re looking for a food that tastes good, why are you going for salad in the first place? The way I see it, if you want it to be a healthy part of your diet, you might as well make it as healthy as possible and look elsewhere for your taste buds’ satisfaction.

Now we’re getting into the more obscure habits: I use my left hand to operate my computer mouse (I’m right handed). I’ve heard that some people do this because it helps with gaming, but I don’t play video games, so that’s not the explanation here. Instead, there are actually two different reasons for this choice. The original moment I decided to mouse left handed was when I was entering a bunch of data using the number pad, which is generally on the right side of the keyboard. When navigating between cells, I would have to switch my right hand to the mouse and then immediately back. By using my left hand to navigate the cursor, I was able to spend as little time entering data as possible – always a worthwhile pursuit. The reason I decided to keep this mouse orientation was because I’ve often heard it’s good to use both sides of your body for tedious tasks because it stimulates your brain better than always using your dominant hand. I also just like being able to use my left hand well – one summer in high school I only wrote left handed to build that ability. Using the mouse with your non-dominant is a perfect way to force this practice; I would often forget to brush my teeth left handed when that was my sole left-hand activity, but if the mouse is on the left side, there’s really no way you could accidentally still use your right hand.

Finally, the last habit is a newly developed one that has yielded good results so far: I almost never blow my nose when I have a cold. By doing so, I have been able to breathe through my nose and keep my sense of smell – and thus taste – through the entirety of a cold. The stuffy nose is one of the more annoying parts of a cold to me, so I’d count that as a win.

I do actually know of one other person who doesn’t blow their nose, and I always thought it was crazy, until I realized that the cause of stuffy noses was blowing your nose, not mucus. If you think mucus is causing a stuffy nose, you will blow harder to try to clear it, but that just aggravates it more and makes it even stuffier. By minimizing nose blowing, you can keep your nose breathable. Sure, blowing your nose gives short-term relief, but over time, it makes things worse. The graph below shows your state over time if you do or don’t blow your nose, with the spikes being each nose blow. You can see that eventually you level out when not blowing your nose, which happens if you are blowing your nose, but at a much worse equilibrium – ultimately, not blowing wins out.

Now you’re probably wondering how I can manage not blowing my nose. Here’s my method (I’ll spare you the gross details): In the morning, you’ll probably need a good nose blow or two to clear your nasal passages – this is fine to do. Beyond that, I never really blow my nose. Instead, when necessary, I pinch the nose and clear everything inside the nose without blowing, which usually does the trick for a while. If it’s bad enough that that isn’t enough, you can blow, but with one key rule: don’t pinch your nose at all when blowing. By doing this, you allow air to blow through both sides, which reduces the pressure you blow with, and aggravates the nasal passages much less. If done correctly, these rules will help combat the dreaded stuffy nose.

Bonus thought of the day: We exhale some of the food we eat (O2 goes in and CO2 comes out – that Carbon atom comes from the food you eat).